BY HARRY RING
God rest ye merry - England's Evening Standard estimates
that the merger of Germany's Deutche Bank and the U.S. Bankers
Trust will mean a loss of as many as 3,000 employees at the
City, London's Wall Street.
Many of these, it said, are likely to get the ax before Xmas.
Xmas tip - Randy Seigel of the Cleveland Times suggests that if you don't have time for Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full, a story of U.S. greed and decadence, pick up a copy of the FOA Schwarz holiday toy catalog. For instance: An all-night sleepover at an FOA Schwarz store for a party of 15 youngsters. Each gets a $100 gift certificate and keeps the sleeping bag. $17,500.
Well-managed care - Judged relative to size and stock performance, HMO top dogs were among the highest paid CEOs in the country.
Imagine the loss without him - Nonprofit Kaiser Permanente, the biggest of the HMOs, lost a whopping $266 million in '97, and the figures look worse for '98.
Meanwhile, CEO David Lawrence drew $1.4 million in a wages, a 16 percent hike.
Progress report - Britain's top court ruled that people who were unlawfully jailed by magistrates for failure to pay fines can seek compensation. At its peak, 22,500 people a year were imprisoned for defaulting on fines.
The case in which the High Court ruled included four single mothers and a person who owed less than L 10. Those jailed for a week may be able to claim up to L 400.
Big Bro - Using a variety of electronic equipment, 35 percent of U.S. employers spy on their work force, according to the American Management Association.
`No way?' - Driving on an Ontario Province highway, Laurie Lee was terrified when a car began tailgating her and finally forced her to stop. Unable to unlock the driver's door, the guy pounded on her window. Then, she said, "He's showing me a badge, But I'm thinking, `No way this man is a police officer.' "
She called for help on her cell phone. Turns out he was an off-duty cop and is now facing dangerous driving charges.
Thought for the week - "The poor are never counted, and even less in a crisis. I don't think we'll ever know exactly how many died here." - Paulo Oberti, head of Santo Domingo UN office during recent hurricane.